Yin-Lien C. Chin - The Stone Lion and Other Chinese Detective Stories: Wisdom of Lord Bau

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The Stone Lion and Other Chinese Detective Stories

The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance of the Salmon Fund of Vassar College during the preparation of the manuscript for this book.

First published 1992 by M.E. Sharpe

Published 2015 by Routledge
2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN
711 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10017, USA

Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business

Copyright 1992 Taylor & Francis. All rights reserved.

No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

Notices
No responsibility is assumed by the publisher for any injury and/or damage to persons or property as a matter of products liability, negligence or otherwise, or from any use of operation of any methods, products, instructions or ideas contained in the material herein.

Practitioners and researchers must always rely on their own experience and knowledge in evaluating and using any information, methods, compounds, or experiments described herein. In using such information or methods they should be mindful of their own safety and the safety of others, including parties for whom they have a professional responsibility.

Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lung tu kung an. English. Selections.
The Stone lion and other Chinese detective stories:
the wisdom of Lord Bau /
Yin-lien C. Chin, Yetta S. Center, Mildred Ross.
p. cm.
An East gate book.
Translation of: Lung tu kung an.
Summary: Presents ten tales featuring Lord Ba, a wise judge who was a champion of righ
teousness and protector of the weak against the powerful.
ISBN 0-87332-634-2 (cloth)
ISBN 0-87332-635-0 (paper)
[1. Conduct of lifeFiction.
2. Pao, Cheng, 999-1062Fiction.
3. ChinaFiction.]
I. Chin, Yin-lien C.
II. Center, Yetta S.
III. Ross, Mildred.
IV. Title
PZ7.L979116St1992
[Fic]dc20
91-46520
CIP
AC

ISBN 13: 9780873326353 (pbk)
ISBN 13: 9780873326346 (hbk)

For
Alfred, Bonnie, Daniel, Hsiao-lien, Isabel, Jacqueline, Stephen

Contents

With a little stretching of the imagination it might be proposed that some Chinese tales dating from the Sung Dynasty were the precursors of modern detective fiction. Numerous stories in which Lord Bau is the chief protagonist bolster this conjecture. Solver of crimes, righter of wrongs, protector of the weak against the powerful, he has been memorialized for the past thousand years in Chinese literature. He appears also as the central character in hundreds of plays and operas. Over the centuries inventive spinners of yams have turned him into a folk hero, even elevating him to mythical stature, one possessed of the power to communicate with the dead.

The real Bau Jeng was bom in the year 999 in Hefei County, Anhui Province. His life span of sixty-nine years coincided roughly with the reigns of Emperors Jen Dzung (998-1022) and Ren Dzung (1023-1063) of the Northern Sung Dynasty.

About his ancestry almost nothing is known. It is believed that he came from a humble family. If he had a wife and children, little creditable information as to their identity survives. He did sit for the civil service examinations and earned exceptionally high grades. This is attested to by existing records of appointments to a variety of government posts. But this lack of documentation did not hinder the creative output of anecdotes about Lord Baus personal life.

One that is a favorite among storytellers relates that just prior to Lord Baus birth his father was frightened by a disquieting nightmare. In his dream he was visited by a hideous monster. According to widely held superstitions of the time, a dream such as this was prophetic. It was a warning that the newborn babe would be an incarnation of the repulsive apparition, a harbinger of bad luck. To rid his family of danger, Lord Baus father arranged to have his tiny son abandoned on a mountain ledge frequented by tigers. The helpless infant was rescued in the nick of time by an older brother.

A second anecdote also deals with Lord Baus miraculous escape from the clutches of death. It is said to have taken place when he was a young boy of seven or eight. A jealous sister-inlaw prepared a dish of his favorite pancakes, combining a dose of poison with the other ingredients. Just as the unsuspecting youngster was about to take his first bite, his faithful dog jumped up and knocked it out of his hand. The dog devoured the pancake and an hour later was found dead.

In keeping with the Chinese belief in predestination, Lord Baus dramatic rescues were inevitable. Ordained for greatness, nothing could prevent him from fulfilling his destiny.

In the telling and retelling of events of his real life, and in the stories highlighting his great wisdom as a judge, the elements of fact and fancy have been intertwined in an inseparable web. What does it matter that the truth cannot be neatly divided from the myth? More important is that his name remains synonymous with intelligence, compassion, and, above all else, incorruptibility. This last attribute has endeared him to the Chinese people through the ages. Having grown accustomed to expect only dishonesty and deceit from officials, it is no wonder they clasped the righteous Lord Bau to their breasts.

In this collection of stories translated from Chinese anthologies and retold for the pleasure of English-speaking readers, Lord Bau is cast in the role of wise judge. Across the span of ten centuries his name has been spoken with reverence and remains to this day the symbol of the ideal public official.

The Stone Lion and Other Chinese Detective Stories

In the oldest section of the city of Dingsyan there is a short, narrow lane entirely paved with round millstones. Most are uniformly gray in color, but a single stone, of a mottled reddish hue, stands out from all the rest. Because of its unusual pavement, with the passing of time, the little lane became known as Millstone Street.

A thousand years ago this very spot hummed with activity, for here was located the government yameif that housed the official residence and offices of the local prefect, Lord Bau. It was he who ordered the strange pavement to be laid. How this came about is related in an ancient tale.

The small village where Nyu San lived lay on the outskirts of Dingsyan. In this sleepy place, the villagers measured time by the changing seasons, planting their tiny plots of land in the spring, harvesting their meager crops of soy beans and millet in the fall.

Nyu San was less fortunate than his neighbors. Both his parents had died when he was just past boyhood, and he was left to fend for himself. His house, a mud-walled cottage under a thatched roof, stood alone near the edge of a deep fishing pond. Badly in need of repairs, the roof leaked when it rained, the window paper was tom, and the sagging door frame was splintered. Behind the house a rickety shed served as a catch-all for tools, fishing nets, and a clutter of rarely used objects. Here, too, Nyu San prepared bean curd to sell in the market place in Dingsyan.

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